Comedies=Money

If Deewane Huye Pagal turns out to be a hit, 2005 may be referred to as the funniest year in Bollywood history ! It seems any comedy attempted has turned out to be a huge hit. First it was the naughty Kya Kool Hai Hum which set cash registers ringing, then we had the conning Bunty Aur Babli. Right after, came Salman's funniest performance in a long time, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya which was followed up by three hubbies looking for some fun in NO ENTRY !. And now with Garam Masala still bringing in the money, it's a wonderful job.

Making a comedy film is difficult, but when done, it can be a immense money-machine and in some ways, I feel, help other comedies. Kya Kool Hai Hum and Bunty Aur Babli were hits. After seeing two comedies, the people might have started having an upbeat opinion on comedies. So, they were quite keen on watching the next comedy! Of course, this is strictly my opinion and it may be totally wrong !

There are two happening films in December and I'm looking forward to them. First, Neal N Nikki's music has really captivated me and it seems really hot ! And then Bluffmaster is really attracting me with Abhishek grooving to "Sabse Bada Rupaiya".

Right now, however, it's Harry Potter as the fourth instalment continues to wreak havoc. I'm a huge HP fan so I made an instant beeline for it. I think some Bollywood directors should sometimes acknowledge that Hollywood can be bigger than Bollywood and stop releasing Bollywood flicks alongside big Hollywood flicks (Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, Taj Mahal - both flops).

The spicy masala rolls on.........

Ouch, ooch, ouch...OK, OK, please stop the brickbats. I'm sorry for taking such a long break but I had to take one as I was feeling bored with the blog. But, now, I'm back, fully refreshed !.

But unfortunately, Diwali wasn't the boom like it was last year. Last year, we had the wondrous "Veer-Zaara", the swift "Aitraaz" and the evergreen "Mughal-E-Azam" turning out to be hits. But this year, only the Akshay and the John starrer "Garam Masala" turned out to be a hit. Both "Shaadi No 1" and "Kyon Ki" failed.

me, being only an average teen, I'm sure my opinions count at all. But still, I believe that the reason for the failure of Shaadi No 1, was the promos and repeat value. The industry has been upbeat with comedies like Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi which featured two guys chasing a girl. However, shaadi films have slowly gone out of favour which is why "Shaadi No 1" flopped. I think the producers should have chosen one star to promote indivually. They could have promoted Zayed one week, Fardeen one week, Sharman one week. In the last week, they could have brought in Sanjay Dutt as the mystery man.

Kyon Ki's failure was high repetition failure. The TV promos were all the same and showed either Salman waltzing with Kareena or with Rimii. The last week's promos were a bit different with Salman showing some madness. All in all, the audience thought it was "tere naam" revisited. I think more promos of the mental faculty and Kareena's slow change to loving Salman would have helped.

As for "Garam Masala", it succeded because the concept of two men chasing one women is really attracting people. The promos were really clever with the "Shyam Tere Kitne Naam" and "Mind Your Language ?" rocking. The producers were pretty clever to show the most humourous portions in the promos which attracted the audience who didn't even know the story. The "Ada" Track really caught the people as well.

Upcoming Movies of 2006

Nothing much to jaw about lately. It's all the same really with Koi Aap Sa getting bad reviews and openings. I don't really want to talk about Hanuman(releasing today) as well. I guess the real news will come when Garam Masala, Shaadi No 1 and Kyun Ki releases.

In that note, here are the movies which should really excite the viewers :

1. Krrish - the sequel to the huge "Koi..Mil Gaya" is turning out to be big. Touted as India's biggest film ever, it has Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra in the movie. Hrithik plays a superhero this time around. This film is already being talked about for it's awesome action.

2. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna - This one is special for all romantic fans. This one is Karan Johar's next, and yet again with a huge starcast. Yep, the starcast comprises of Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal. And it's already going in full swing !

Three Biggies, One Fight

Hi guys, am I a bit late ? Well, you can blame it on the festive season going on here as I was really caught up in that. Anyway, I'm here now.

We have three biggies this Diwali and let's check them out :

Firstly, we have Priyadarshan's Kyun Ki which has Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor pairing up for the first time. The movie also stars Rimii Sen, Om Puri and Jackie Shroff. Himesh Reshammiya scores the music and the music is pretty good. Apart from Dil Keh Rahe (which I frankly hate), all the other songs are great including my favourites "Dil Ke Badle" and the title track. The promotion hasn't been anything huge but I'm pretty sure it will change.

We have two comedies up next. Next is the hot n happening Garam Masala directed by Priyadarshan again ! This film promises to be a real cool film with John Abraham and Akshay Kumar in the lead. It has three gorgeous new faces, Neetu Chandran, Daisy Bopanna and Nargis. The music is by 'Dhoom Machale' Pritam who seeems to be on a role with Chocolate, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena and now Garam Masala. Music is really hot with 'Ada' scoring out huge !

Up next, we have the king of comedy, David Dhawan's Shaadi No 1. This film is another humorous take on infidelity. A huge starcast comprises with Zayed Khan, Fardeen Khan, Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Dutt. We also have Soha Ali Khan, Esha Deol and Ayesha Takia. Unfortunately, the music (by Anu Malik) is no great shakes, though I like the title "Zara Zara".

So, there you have it, a short summary of the above films. Who will win ? It's a bit early to predict, but I believe Garam Masala might inch a bit higher.

Salaam Namaste - a bit below expectations !

Yep dudes, I finally managed to catch Yash Raj's latest offering "Salaam Namaste" this Sunday. But unfortunately, it falls a bit below expectations.

Now, I don't mean it's awful, idiotic etc ! It's a nice film with Preity Zinta looking gorgeous, acting beautifully and Saif Ali Khan acting and looking awesome ! Also, the wonderful locales of Melbourne have been captured beautifully. Also, the live-in relationship parts have been done wonderfully !

Now, you might say if you found such a lot of pros, why below expectations ? ANSWER : THE CLIMAX and bit of the 2nd half. They've made a joke of the whole climax what with stupid doctors. A wonderful actor like Abhishek Bachchan has an "entertaining" cameo but unfortunately, he hams largely. It's an awful climax and it dilutes the whole film ? I can't even describe it, it's so yucky.

But Salaam Namaste is good for one viewing. If you just want to relax, watch Salaam Namaste ! It's like a breath of fresh air !

Updates on the upcoming movies will be up later !

Paheli, India's entry !

Ok, guys, I am here after quite some time ! Sorry for the delay, loads of things have been happening in my life !

Now, some great news ! The Shahrukh, Rani starrer Paheli has been chosen as India's entry for the Oscar !

Now, let me a bit frank. I personally believe Paheli is a great film with stunning visuals, great performances and a very sensitive story. But, I don't really believe this was THE film which should have gone to the Oscars. I would have personally chosen the awesome Black. But, if the issues regarding Black being inspired by "The Miracle Worker" interfered, I believe it would have been Iqbal and Swades. Swades is an fascinating film. I've already spoken about it loads of times. Iqbal would also have been a good choice because it has an imporant theme of India in it : cricket. And let's not forget Veer-Zaara, it had loads of Indian elements in it with great performances !

But, now that Paheli has been selected, I wish it all the best ! Here's hoping Paheli gives us the long coveted Oscar !

"Chocolate" Doesn't Excite "James" !!

Four films released this Friday. All of them were radically different but they had one thing in common, they had dismal openings !

"Chocolate" was by far a big film. Having big names like Anil Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Suniel Shetty, Irffan, Tanushree Dutta, Arshad Warsi and Sushma Reddy, the makers had promoted it nicely but this went againt the film. Because, a film like this has to be promoted very very widely. You have to give the viewers in-your-face promotion or else, no one's going to watch suspense thrillers. But, Chocolate had an awful opening 30-35%. The reports and reviews are also discouraging, "it's a confusing film" is the main refrain.

"James" was another film from RGV's Factory (Can anyone remember a film from RGV which did not have violence ?). But, it didn't live up to the "radically-different" tag which we've come to expect from Ram Gopal Varma. A typical masala film, it had all the hackneyed plot elements which have given Hindi cinema a bad name. Unknown faces like Mohit Ahalwat and Nisha Kothari also made the difference. But, from what I can see, I think Nisha Kothari can make it really big.

The other two films were "Kal", a corporate multiplex film, and "Sau Jooth Ek Saach". None of them were excessively promoted and thus the opening was disastrous.

Bollywood is now gearing up from the Diwali season, which should start from November. But, till then, not too many big films are going to release. This Diwali has some big releases like "Garam Masala", "Kyun Ki" and "Shaadi No 1". More on that, later.